


Paper Ring Promise

by Potato_Alchemist



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Mistletoe, Multi, Wisdom Teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-23 20:05:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13197582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potato_Alchemist/pseuds/Potato_Alchemist
Summary: The five times Tokusa proposed to Link and Madarao, and the one time he didn't have to.





	Paper Ring Promise

It wasn’t something Tokusa had planned, but while he was studying on Link’s bed, Madarao’s music in the headphone in one ear and Link’s in the other, he tore two strips of paper from his notebook and twisted them into two rings. He grabbed the headphone cords dangling against his shoulders and pulled them out of their ears.

Madarao and Link both continued focusing on the homework in front of them for a moment before they frowned. For them, it was the sudden loss of something consistent, but for Tokusa, it was the loss of discordant mess from Madarao studying to heavy metal at a barely audible volume and Link studying to classical music so loud that Tokusa wondered how either of them could think. But it was a discordant mess he loved all the same.

“Why did you do that?” Madarao asked.

“Marry me?” Tokusa asked, gently picking up the crudely made rings and cradling them in his palms as he held them out for Madarao and Link.

“That’s illegal,” Link said.

“We’re sixteen,” Madarao said.

But their fingers brushed against his palms as they picked up the rings. “Illegal is such a harsh word,” Tokusa said, smiling down at his chemistry homework and dropping his hands. He was thinking about going back to working on it when he heard Link’s window opening. The sound and the late spring heat pooling into the cool room reminded Tokusa of last summer when he and Madarao had snuck in through Link’s window in the middle of the night to sit in his bed with him because he was sick.

“Lavi, we have a front door,” Link scolded. But he walked around the other side of his bed to help Lavi in anyways. “What was so important you couldn’t ring the doorbell and wait for someone to let you in?” he asked, slamming his window closed.

“I wasn’t sure if you were home,” Lavi answered, leaning against the wall and smiling.

“So, you were going to wait here?”

Lavi opened his mouth, furrowed his brow, and then puffed out a sigh. “Good point. Anyway, I’m having a party tomorrow and I forgot to invite you because I already know your answers.” He pointed to Link, Madarao, and then Tokusa as he said, “No, no, and wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Actually, apparently I would.” Tokusa pointed to Madarao and Link as he said, “At least when my world wants to go ice skating.” A sigh slipped past his lips at the thought of cuddling up to them in a cold ice rink and sharing kisses of cold lips and warm tongues.

Lavi sunk down to Link’s floor. “See, that’s the kind of sappy shit that I want. I want to go ice skating and have candlelit dinners, plan picnics, buy someone flowers. But because I’m a baseball player, all I get are hot cheerleaders asking me if I wanna fuck in their cars and how am I supposed to say no to that?”

“Easy, watch.” Keeping his eyes on Lavi, Tokusa asked, “Hey, Madarao, wanna have sex?”

“No.”

Lavi’s lips twitched into a smile.

“Hey, Link, wanna have sex?”

“No.”

Lavi laughed as he slid back up the wall, hollowness lacing his voice. “I’ll trade you.”

“See you on Monday, Lavi,” Link said, pushing Lavi towards his door. On his way pushing Lavi past the bed, he sat down by Tokusa. He waited until Lavi was gone before asking, “Why?”

Tokusa tried to put into words the way it felt when they were around. The heavy layer of warmth and comfort that settled over him when they lied close to each other, the bright feeling when they smiled at him, the way his heart still raced when he unexpectedly saw them in the hallway.

But right now, the only way he had to describe that was the way he had been describing it since he had felt it. “Because I love you.”

* * *

 

The pain in Tokusa’s mouth was forgotten in favor of the pleasant feeling he felt around Madarao and Link being amplified by the medicine they gave him after they took his wisdom teeth out.

The first day of Christmas break and he was spending it on his bed, nestled between Link’s legs with Madarao sitting across from him, feeding him a chocolate milkshake with a tiny spoon.

If only he had the energy or the drive to get five feet away to the mistletoe hanging in his doorway.

Aside from the inability to open his mouth all the way, he wanted to save this moment forever. Link’s arms wrapped around his waist, Madarao’s fingers brushing the still tingling skin at the corner of his mouth, though hopefully not always to wipe drool off.

“Marry me?” he asked, lips stiff and tongue fitting awkwardly in his mouth.

“You’re high,” Madarao said.

“It’s still illegal,” Link said.

“Both such harsh words,” Tokusa mumbled, leaning back against Link and letting his eyes close. He parted his mouth and waited for the next spoon of the milkshake that barely masked the lingering taste of latex gloves, Novocain, and blood.

“And you’re still sixteen,” Madarao added, slipping the spoon into Tokusa’s mouth. “And, according to my parents, you have to do three things before you get married: Have sex together, live together, and go on a vacation together. And they’ve been happily married for almost fifteen years.”

“Maybe it’s because they had a baby before getting married,” Tokusa tried to say, but it was too difficult to get out with the heavy feelings of sleepiness and oxycodone clouding his mind. So, all that came out were incoherent noises and the spoon he had forgotten was on his tongue.

“Do you want to go to sleep?” Link asked, hand running gently through Tokusa’s hair and dragging him closer towards sleep.

A few more noises escaped Tokusa’s throat as he drifted off. The last thing he heard was Link saying something about getting him an ice pack for his swollen cheeks.

* * *

 

It was the most intense pain Tokusa had ever felt, pulsing through his jaw that woke him up. But it seemed like a fair trade when he saw that Madarao and Link were kissing in his doorway.

“Woo,” he croaked out through the pain. The dry edges of his lips twitched up when they pulled apart quickly and looked at him, and he noticed that Link was blushing faintly.

“I have to go because it’s getting dark and I don’t want to get murdered on my way home,” Madarao said as he walked towards him.

For a few still moments, Tokusa was focused on the way Madarao was looking at him as he leaned in close, but as their lips were about to brush against each other, Link said, “Madarao and I had sex.”

When Madarao pulled away, Tokusa did his best to offer them the closest he could get to a smile, though it hurt so bad a whimper pushed its way out of his throat. “Today?”

They both nodded.

“Are you upset?” Link asked, hands fidgeting. Something Tokusa hadn’t seen since the first time he had kissed Link in the eighth grade.

“Of course not,” Tokusa said, doing his best not to smile. “You can tell me the rest in a sec, but Madarao, you really should go.”

As Madarao leaned in slowly, he pushed his fingers into Tokusa’s hair, tilting Tokusa’s head up. He breathed against Tokusa lips and Tokusa found it hard to keep his own breathing steady. And then Madarao kissed his nose and pulled back, hand tugging at Tokusa’s hair as it slipped away. “Night, Tokusa,” he said as he took a few steps backward, towards the door.

“You know what, I am upset. I’m upset that your wisdom teeth grew in perfectly.” Tokusa managed to weakly point at Link. “And I’m upset that you don’t even have wisdom teeth.” His arm dropped back to the bed as he let his eyes slip closed again.

“I love you, and I promise we’ll do whatever you want in a couple weeks,” Madarao said, voice getting quieter and quieter along with his footsteps.

“Love you too,” Tokusa said as Link got back into his bed smelling like fresh soap and pulled him close.

“So, why today?”

When Tokusa managed to get his eyes open again after a few tries, he saw the beginning of a smile on Link’s face. Even now, Tokusa still couldn’t describe the feeling Link and Madarao had left developing in his heart the day he met them, so he settled for, “Because I was high and because I love you.”

* * *

 

On the day of their high school graduation, Tokusa made four paper rings to make up for the two he never got to make. Sure, it was still illegal but he wasn’t sixteen anymore and he wasn’t high.

Before he asked, though, he would let Madarao and Link spend time with their families while he went home alone like usual. But as he got into his car, Madarao got in the passenger’s seat, and Link got in the back.

Tokusa smiled to himself as he dropped his heavy set of keys in his lap and pulled out the four rings from his pocket. “Marry me?” he asked, two rings in each palm he held out for them.

“Why two?” Link asked, hand sliding along Tokusa’s as he scooped up the rings, smooth edges of his nails trailing along Tokusa’s palm.

“Because I never gave them to you last time,” Tokusa said, watching Link carefully put the rings in his pocket and feeling Madarao’s fingers tickle along his palm as he took the rings.

“It’s still illegal,” Link said.

Tokusa realized something as he started the car. “You know what else is illegal?” he said, navigating his way out of the crowded parking lot, and trying not to smile. “The first time you two had sex, and then every time either of you had sex with me for about three months.”

“That doesn’t make this less illegal,” Madarao said, fiddling with the stereo as Tokusa made it onto the road. “So, why now?”

Tokusa found himself driving on auto-pilot as he thought about the question. He was vaguely aware of when his turn signal would click, the trees in his peripheral vision, when his foot would press against the brake, the quiet chatter between Madarao and Link.

“Because I’m going to miss you,” he said, now too aware of the way the steering wheel felt around his tight grip.

“It’s not my fault you’re moving a thousand miles away,” Madarao said, voice an odd mixture of gentle and amused that Tokusa couldn’t quite place.

“There’s always breaks. And even if you go home and I don’t, I’m still close by,” Link said.

Tokusa locked eyes with him in the rearview mirror for a moment before returning his eyes to the road thinking about the softness in them. “But, you two are my home.”

“Red light,” Madarao said over Link’s soft inhale.

“Shit,” Tokusa muttered as he slammed on the break, but his smile never left his face.

* * *

 

After a long flight, a quick stop home to pick something off his doorway, and an hour and a half drive, Tokusa finally made it to Link’s dorm. The hallways were empty as he wandered through them in search of Link’s room.

When he finally found it tucked away in a corner, he knocked on the door and waited. Link opened the door and Tokusa flicked his eyes up to the mistletoe taped to his forehead with a smile on his face.

“Look at that, Link. You’re under the mistletoe.”

“It’s March,” Link said, leaning up to kiss him anyway. When he pulled away, he yanked the mistletoe off Tokusa’s forehead, taking the tape with it and leaving Tokusa wincing at the sound and the odd feeling.

“Ow,” Tokusa whined as he followed Link inside.

The dorm was as small as his own, but Lavi’s side didn’t have a cross on the wall like Link’s roommate’s side did. Tokusa set his bag on the ground and watched Link put the mistletoe on the wall, by the picture Alma had made all of them and their families take last Christmas. It was the same one Tokusa and Lavi had in their dorm room.

Tokusa and Lavi had it because they were amused that Alma had forced Kanda and Madarao to wear reindeer antlers for not being in the holiday spirit, but Tokusa figured Link had it because it allowed him to have everyone he had ever loved right by his bed. Along with the other pictures by Link’s bed. Like the picture of Tokusa sneezing into Tewaku’s hair while he was braiding it, and the picture from New Year’s when Madarao and Link were fourteen and Madarao had given Link his first kiss at midnight, for which Link hadn’t closed his eyes. Just like when Tokusa had taken it, he laughed every time he saw it.

“What are you laughing at?” Link asked, drawing Tokusa’s attention away from looking at the pictures and towards him as he moved Tokusa’s bag out of the way.

“You’re just really adorable,” Tokusa said, smiling as Link looked over at him. Before Link could respond, Tokusa went back to looking at the pictures. His eyes landed on the picture Link had taken after Tokusa’s wisdom tooth surgery, a cup of pudding in one of Madarao’s hands, a spoon in the other, and Tokusa sitting across from him with puffy cheeks and the spoon halfway out of his mouth.

When Tokusa noticed the mattress shift, he sat down next to Link and leaned his back against the wall. He looked over at Link, and then down at his pocket where he was keeping one paper ring.

“You’re leaving on Wednesday, right? To visit Madarao?”

Tokusa smiled. “Yeah, which should be much less frightening now that he lives across the street from where you grew up. But I still won’t understand anything his family says in Bavarian. Or, really, English either because his parents have such thick accents,” he said, thinking about the headache he is going to have the entire time he is there.

Link said something Tokusa didn’t understand and Tokusa got that same feeling in his stomach he got whenever something happened to remind him that his parents were never around to teach him things. At least he had access to his trust fund now.

Before he let Link realize what he was thinking, Tokusa pulled the ring out of his pocket and focused on the way the material of his jeans scraped roughly against his hand instead of on the look Link was giving him.

“Marry me?” he asked, smiling and holding out the ring for Link. After so many times, it was beginning to look natural to have a paper ring resting on his palm.

“Since I know you’re asking Madarao in a few days, it’s still illegal,” Link said, taking the ring. “Why this time?”

“Because you’re my family.”

* * *

 

 Tokusa squinted against the sun as he got out of his car. Before he could walk up to the door, Madarao came outside.

As he walked towards him, Tokusa pulled the ring out of his pocket. “Marry me?” he asked, holding his hand out as Madarao stopped in front of him.

“Did you ask Link on Saturday?” Madarao asked, ring slipping onto the tip of his finger as he picked it up. Tokusa stared at Madarao’s finger as it stayed against his palm for a moment before pulling away, the ring still wrapped around his first knuckle.

“Yeah.”

“Why?” Madarao asked, pocketing the ring like he and Link always did. Tokusa wondered if he would ever see any of the rings again.

Tokusa hadn’t been able to explain it to Link earlier, and he hadn’t been able to explain it the other three times, but what he had said to Link was close enough for now. “Because you’re my family.”

“Paperwork doesn’t make a family,” Madarao said, walking away. “And I have to go to class. Door’s open.”

“Okay,” Tokusa said, watching him leave.

* * *

 

For what Tokusa promised himself was the last time, he let two paper rings sit on his open palm, too light to feel, but too loud not to notice with every time his hand curled. Though they had never been pretty, these ones, in particular, were barely holding together.

When he had made them, his hands had stumbled over the paper and he knew it had been too long. The last time he had proposed was their sophomore year of college and now he was halfway through his first year of graduate school.

But, they had done all three things, and at the least, he wanted to hear what their excuses would be. So, when Link got home from finishing setting up for the grand opening of his bakery, and Madarao got home from work, he greeted them at the door and asked, “Marry me?”

“Sadly, still illegal, Tokusa,” Link said, voice coming out as half sigh as he took the ring.

As he walked away, Madarao took the ring and said, “I love you.” He walked away as well, leaving Tokusa standing in the entryway of their house.

“You people suck,” he yelled. A pang of guilt shot through his heart as the “k” sound clicked off the back of his tongue because he knew that Link was wearing his Harvard sweatshirt right now, Madarao made Tokusa breakfast every morning, and they had both moved to follow him to graduate school.

He reminded himself that if they were still dating because it was familiar, they wouldn’t do those things. For that, he counted himself lucky because not everyone had that. And, he figured that, from the outside perspective, their relationship was something precious.

* * *

 

“I hate medical school,” Alma announced as Link let him into his unopened bakery. “Well, not really,” he said, shrugging off his coat.

“You didn’t have to come help,” Link said, watching Alma throw his coat over a table he had cleaned a few minutes ago, and wondering how clean the coat was. “That’s not a coat rack,” he said, stalking over to the coat and picking it up.

“Link, I’m so tired, I don’t even know what month it is,” Alma said, eyes half closed, but he let Link place the coat in his arms anyways. Even though it looked like the weight of it was about to crush him, he smiled at Link and added, “Have I told you how pretty you look today?”

Link took a deep breath and held it as his heart raced from nerves. “I appreciate your support,” his said, voice as tense as his body.

Alma laughed and shook his head as he walked back behind the counter. “What do you need me to do?”

“I think we’re pretty much done,” Lavi said, looking at Link.

“Yes. You’re quite late, Alma.”

“As I said, Link, I’m not really sure what’s going on anymore. But, I know so much about bones and spines.”

Before Link could say anything, Tokusa yelled, “It’s seven.”

After Link flipped the sign to “open”, he joined the others behind the counter. Because it was so early, and it was his first day, he wasn’t expecting someone to walk in after only a few seconds.

He looked about college-age and was smiling at them. “Hi, professor Tokusa.”

“I’m not a professor, but thanks, Allen.”

“You must be Link,” Allen said, stopping in front of the cash register.

Link didn’t turn around, but instead kept his eyes on Allen’s chipper smile as he asked, “You talk about me?”

“Yeah, and your bakery.”

Before Link could be amazed for too long, Allen said, “I’ll have whatever you recommend.” As Link grabbed the plastic-wrapped scone from the basket by the register, he noticed that Allen was staring at Lavi. “I think I’ve seen you in the library.”

“Yeah, I work there. Kind of,” Lavi said slowly like he was trying to process Allen’s existence.

He kept looking for Lavi as he fished for his wallet in his pocket. When Link looked over his shoulder, he saw that Tokusa was smirking and nudging Lavi.

“Hey, Allen, weird question, but what are your thoughts on committed relationships, cuddling, and looking at paint samples?” Tokusa asked.

“I think it’s nice to have someone to do that stuff with,” Allen said, placing two dollars on the counter.

Link might have told him it was three dollars had Lavi not walked up to Allen and taken him away before Allen could even take the scone.

“If he’s not coming back for that, can I eat it?” Alma asked.

As Link watched Lavi and Allen walking down the sidewalk, he realized that he had all that. He didn’t sleep in his bed alone, Madarao had asked his opinion on what kind of cookware to buy, he once told Tokusa his taste in lamps was horrible, and he had been proposed to five times. When he shared a look with Madarao, he wondered if they were thinking the same thing.

* * *

 

That weekend, Tokusa woke up to light things falling on him, making his nose twitch when they hit his face. “Why?” he groaned as he brushed at his face to move the papery things aside. He got no response other than retreating footsteps. When he finally managed to get his eyes open, he noticed that he was alone in bed, except for the paper rings on him. The rings fell into his lap as he sat up. As he counted them, he realized that they were the ten rings he had given to Link and Madarao.

When he looked toward the door, he noticed two pieces of paper, one on Madarao’s pillow, and one on Link’s. And as his eyes wandered down to the carpet, he saw a trail of small, square papers in rows of two leading outside their room.

Both papers on the pillows said the same thing

_Tokusa, I love you because…_

After getting himself out of his warm bed and into the far-too-cold air of their house that left goosebumps on his skin, he picked up the first two pieces of paper and read the one with Link’s neat handwriting first.

_You make me feel secure_

_You make me feel whole_

He kept those two in his hands as he reached down and picked up the next to, reading Link’s first again.

_You love with all your heart_

_You make me feel wanted_

The next two notes both said the same thing.

_You’re persistent_

When Tokusa reached the next two, the second to last ones, his nose was tingling like he was about to cry.

_You’re so much sweeter than you realize_

_You’re adorable_

At the last two notes, both saying the same thing, Tokusa felt warm tears filling his tired eyes.

_So, will you…_

When Tokusa walked out of the room, he saw mistletoe hanging in the bathroom doorway and Madarao standing under it.

“It’s been a while since I saw mistletoe,” Tokusa said, voice softer than he intended. He stopped in front of Madarao and leaned closer until their lips were about to brush. Unlike Madarao, he was only able to stay for a second before the temptation became too much and he pulled away, smiling. “Sorry, maybe in a few weeks.”

Madarao kissed his forehead and grabbed his hand. “Give it a few minutes, and I think you’ll change your mind.” He led Tokusa downstairs where Link was standing in the entryway of the kitchen, holding out three gold rings.

“Marry us?” they asked.

For a moment, Tokusa found it hard to breathe. Had it not taken him so long to find his voice, he would have repeated some of their excuses, but instead, he said, “Yes.”

Madarao lifted Tokusa’s hand up to Link so he could slip the ring on. It was colder than the bed Tokusa still kind of wished he was in, but warmer than Link’s fingers brushing against his skin as they pulled away.

After Madarao and Link finally had rings on their fingers, Link said, “Look up.”

Once again, Tokusa found himself under the mistletoe.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
